This is Kat's Writing.

Following are a series of words and imagery.
Relax.
Enjoy.
Do not be too alarmed at life nor too complacent in the world. There may be alarming things here. There may not be. Have I mentioned scatological yet?

Nightmare

Nightmare

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Restoring a Leather Purse, Part One.

I have a rather odd hobby. I like to find random old purses in thrift stores and restore them. I blame Coach bags. I love love love the old leather Coaches.. so I will scour the stores hunting them. Over the years I've found, rehabbed and released/kept over thirty older leather purses. Most were Coach. Some had no names but were just awesome. I've kept my eye out for rarer bags.. Maybe one day I'll luck onto a Hermes or a Channel. You never know what you might find.

This is the cleaned purse. At this point the leather is very dry, I will need to fix that. That bit of silk is what I will line it with.
Yesterday I found my first real Dooney and Bourke. It was a mess. I actually passed it up at first, it was so dirty. The leather was almost all stained, the brass was dull and there was something hard and gunky on the keyhole latch and there was black grime all over the D rings and the strap was mildly sticky. But it was 75% off the tag price and that worked out to under 80 cents.

I won't mention the inside mankiness or the ink stains. Or the weird smell.

Actually, I will mention the smell. It was a mix of layered old body odor and too much perfume. And old food. It smelled like the last owner never bathed but instead preferred to cover herself in spray on stank. And she apparently ate with her bag in her lap. I didn't notice it till I got home (as it was covered by thrift store general smell)... but then I kept smelling another human. A dirty one. Yeah gods. I'd planned to clean it this weekend but some things couldn't WAIT. It was just that bad of a stench. YUCK.

Tools of the Trade.
I will take this time to note that while I have used these techniques to clean leather bags with little/no ill effects you can IF YOU ARE NOT CAREFUL really screw up the leather with my methods. Acetone will remove all the dye. So will bleach. Brasso can discolor leather. You'll want to work in a well ventilated room and don't fucking smoke. Call it a disclaimer and a warning. Try it on a hidden spot or a scrap first.